Senior Met officer says Meghan faced ‘very real threats’ while in the UK

A leading Met officer said Meghan Markle faced very real threats while she was in the UK.

Neil Basu, who is stepping down as Assistant Commissioner of Specialist Operations at Scotland Yard, said “disgusting” threats were made against the Duchess of Sussex.”

Asked by Channel 4 News if they were credible, he said: “Absolutely, and if you’d seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it… the kind of rhetoric that’s online, if you don’t know what I know, you would feel under threat all of the time.”

He added: “We had teams investigating it. People have been prosecuted for those threats.”

The former head of counter-terrorism at the Met, who started out as a beat bobby in Battersea before serving in roles including Borough Commander in Barnet, is the most senior serving British officer of Asian heritage.

He said some of the comments made by Home Secretary Suella Braverman about migrants was “inexplicable” and said more needed to be done to get rid of racist officers.

He said: “Are you alert to issues of racial and social justice? Yes I am.

“And if that is the definition of woke, I’ll wear it as a bumper sticker every day of the week.

“And by the way, every serving police officer, let alone a Chief Constable, better believe that too.

“We serve all of the public without fear or favour, regardless of who they look like, not just the people we like.”

The Home Office said in a statement: “The Home Secretary expects forces to take a zero-tolerance approach to racism within their workplace.

“But she is also very clear about the need to manage our borders effectively and have an asylum system that works for those in genuine need, as are the British people.”